Hameau Albert 1er

Rooms

Rooms in the main house are contemporary in style. You’ll find cowhide rugs on wooden floors, enormous beds smartly attired, perhaps a sofa in front of a woodburner or a balcony facing Mont Blanc in the bigger rooms. All have cute orange armchairs that swivel with grace, and several have white leather headboards. Stone bathrooms are exceptional - double sinks, separate showers, robes and slippers, fancy oils. Book a Luxury room and you'll get a Jacuzzi tub, too. Despite the modern style, there's always an antique in the room, usually a lovely piece of old wood, perhaps a chest or a cabinet. And although the spa is over at La Ferme, the sauna is in the main house, as is the main restaurant.

Big sprawling rooms in La Ferme have a luxurious mountain-lodge feel: wooden walls and ceilings, sofas and armchairs scattered about, massive beds wrapped in crisp white linen. All have Mont Blanc views from balconies or terraces, some with sunbeds outside to catch the mountain light, others with woodburners inside for cosy winter evenings. Bathrooms are beautiful, too - not quite as contemporary as in the main house, but lovely nonetheless, with double-ended Jacuzzi baths and separate power showers. If that’s not enough for you, there’s are 2 enormous apartments over 2 floors with a sunken Jacuzzi bath in the master bedroom, a white leather sofa in the sitting room, a couple of balconies facing Mont Blanc and 2 further bedrooms (a double and a double/twin). There's also a smaller 2-bedroom apartment ideal for families of 4.

There are also 2 stylish chalets with logs piled high in their porches. Soli sleeps 2-6 and has its own sauna, Grepon is smaller but perfect for small families (sleeping 2-4). See full details here. Both chalets have fine bathrooms with robes for adults and children alike. You also get sheepskin throws, blonde wood furniture and umbrellas at the door. Wonderful stuff.

Features include:

• Bathrobes
• Hairdryer
• In-room treatments available
• Minibar
• Safe box
• WiFi

Eating

There are 2 restaurants at the hotel: Restaurant Albert 1er in the main house, which has a Michelin star, and La Maison Carrier over in La Ferme, which serves bistro-style mountain food. Both serve breakfast from 7-11am (extra cost). It’s a help-yourself affair with plates of local charcuterie and cheese, delicious fruit salads and yoghurts, just-baked croissants and pains au chocolat, baguettes and homemade jams. Cooked dishes are available, but they are not cooked to order. Instead, you fish things out of heated trays - bacon, sausages, scrambled eggs. The trouble is they get cold, which rather defeats the point.

Lunch and dinner are of a different measure altogether.
Restaurant Albert 1er's wine cellar holds 19,000 bottles, which might explain why its wine-tasting lunches are so popular. Various menus are available, from a light lunch to a 9-course tasting menu in the evenings. There’s an à la carte menu, too, where you might find snails in vegetable ravioli with smoked foie gras, or milk-fed veal sweetbreads with carrot and black garlic. It’s amazing stuff, a great spot to splash out on special occasions.

La Maison Carrier serves tasty rustic food - perhaps a salad of autumnal vegetables with Beaufort cheese and beetroot chips, rack of lamb cooked over an open fire, and local plum fritters with milk ice cream. You eat in a beautiful room (a controlled explosion of wood) with a walk-in fireplace where you can lift your head and see the sky. During the ski season both restaurants are extremely popular with people staying in town, so booking ahead is essential.

If you fancy eating in town, there are lots of good restaurants to choose from. Atmosphere on Place Balmat is smart but informal, offers great Savoyard food and has a covered terrace that overlooks the river. You’ll get a good fondue at La Calèche. It’s full of character due to the rustic clutter that hangs from the ceilings, and is popular with skiers.

Features include:

• Bar
• Kids' meals
• Restaurant
• Restaurants nearby
• Room service
• Vegetarian options

Activities

• Le ski! There are several ski fields in Chamonix: Les Houches is great for families with safe pistes through the forest; Le Brévent is served by lifts from central Chamonix so is very popular, but the steep slopes can be tricky for intermediates. Les Grands Montets is further up the valley and while one of the black slopes is for expert skiers only, the Panda Club is the best ski school in the valley. Le Tour (Balme and Vallorcine) offers the best skiing for intermediates. It’s 8km north of town, but buses run all day and the slopes are less crowded than the others, so it’s worth the journey
  
• Chamonix has a great reputation for après-ski, too. One of the best places to hang out is Elevation 1904 - it's well-priced, and where the locals drink
  
• The incredible Aiguille du Midi cable car sweeps you up into the sky. If you do nothing else in Chamonix, do this. It passes over the Pelerin Glacier and in summer you’ll spot climbers ascending the north face of the mountain. The view from the top is one of the best in the Alps
  
• While you’re up here, jump on the Panoramique Mont Blanc, a cable car that goes across a sea of snow and the odd glacier on its way to Helbronner (mid-June to mid-Sept only)
  
• Mer de Glace is a 7km glacier at Montenvers, perfect for summer hikes. Afterwards, take the cute Montenvers train back to Chamonix
  
• The Mont Blanc tramway takes 75 minutes to climb 1,800m, and the last stop is the starting point for mountaineers hoping to conquer the mountain
  
• Summer in Chamonix is as busy as winter and it’s not just hikers and mountain bikers who come. Road cyclists, white-water rafters, mountaineers, rock climbers, trail runners and paragliders all love it here
  
• Back at the hotel, sink into the indoor/outdoor heated pool or soothe tired limbs with a specialist massage or sauna

Activities on site or nearby include:

• Cycling
• Hiking
• Mountain biking
• Nightlife
• Paragliding
• Private guided tours
• Rafting
• Shopping / markets
• Skiing
• Snowsports
• Well being

Kids

Children are very welcome, though this is an elegant hotel with a Michelin star in its restaurant, so not the natural habitat of families.

Best for:

All ages

Family friendly accommodation:

Classic and Luxury Rooms can fit a baby cot; Luxury Rooms with Fireplaces and Prestige Rooms can fit a baby cot or extra bed. The apartments and chalets are best suited to families: the apartments have 2-3 bedrooms (each including a twin room). Chalet Soli has a double room, a double/twin room and 2 single beds on a mezzanine level; Chalet Grepon has a double room and a bunk room with 2 single bunkbeds.

Cots Available, Extra Beds Available

For more family-friendly places, see our Kids Collection

Location

Hameau Albert 1er is in the centre of Chamonix, which sits at the foot of Mont Blanc in southeast France, on its border with Italy and close to Switzerland. Geneva is 85km west, Turin is 170km south, Grenoble is 200km southwest.

By Air:
Geneva is by far the easiest airport to fly into (99km away), with international flights from many European cities and beyond. Click on the links below for a list of airlines serving this airport.

From the Airport
The hotel offers transfers or you can hire a car. A motorway runs most of the way, so it’s an easy journey and takes less than 1.5 hours.

By Car:
If arriving via Geneva airport, it’s worth picking up your hire car on the Swiss side of the border, as you’ll find it easier - and probably cheaper. Note that you’ll need a vignette (annual permit) to drive on Swiss motorways. For car rentals, click here to see our recommendations. The hotel has a free underground car park.

By Train:
Chamonix’s railway station is in the middle of the village. However, it is not on a fast line, TGVs don’t pass through and you’ll have to change to get here, even if you’re coming from somewhere else in France.

Detailed directions will be sent to you when you book through i-escape.com.

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